Guest User
June 8, 2023
My husband and I stayed at the California Road Hotel in early June 2023 and we were surprised it labels itself as a Luxury Hotel. I would say it's more like a 2 star Faulty Towers-esque experience. We were charged over $850 for 2 nights (Sat & Sun) and were looking forward to taking a couple of days out at our Luxury accommodation without the kids! Fabulous. We emailed before arrival to check on things like the streaming services available, and the fridge freezer situation - I like a lot of ice in my drinks, and was very happy to hear the hotel has an ice machine for guests to use. On arrival I noticed the machine was turned off and empty. We asked the staff member in the tasting room if it was broken. She checked with the owner, assured us it was fine, and that she would turn it back on. Obviously this was not going to create ice in a matter of minutes, but no solution was suggested or an offer to assist us was made. Instead we were given directions to the Aldinga petrol station, to drive to buy ourselves a bag of ice. When we got back from the petrol station we asked for an ice bucket and 2 Champagne flutes. We were told the hotel had neither. I think this is odd for a luxury hotel. The room itself was fine, well appointed, great outside deck, the bed was comfortable. The bathroom was beautiful but not welcoming to use. The shower heads are obviously environmentally friendly, but they are not luxury. It was impossible to stay warm under the shower, you couldn't get your whole body wet at the same time, let alone clean, and I would pity anybody who actually had to wash their hair! The bath tub was beautiful but there were no extra bath towels or foot mats to use it, no nice bubbles or bath crystals to use, so we didn't use it. It was a shame. Again, we were questioning the luxury tag. The breakfast provisions and snacks are not luxury items. Supermarket square bread, one blob of butter not large enough to butter even 1 slice of toast, squeezy vegemite that you are sharing with other guests, childrens yoghurt pots, and tiny shared containers of cereal rather than individually packaged serves is not Luxury, not particularly hygienic. One lunchbox sized pack of BBQ shapes is not a Luxury snack. One bottle of Coles supermarket brand orange juice to share is not Luxury. We were charged over $850 for 2 nights. On the first morning we vacated the room at 10am, as requested, to allow the cleaning staff to enter the room. We returned at midday to find the room had not been cleaned. Upon closer inspection someone had been in our room, there were 2 fresh towels, and more products in the bathroom, but the bedroom was messy, the bed not made, the dirty glasses and plates not removed or replaced, the snacks not refilled. We were confused and thought maybe the cleaner was halfway through and was distracted. When we left the hotel for lunch I queried the room clean with the person that was in the tasting room. He immediately asked us if we had l